With two days to go before the end of round 2, we've got two new development today in the Wake County student assignment story.

Wake announced that Jeffreys Grove Elementary will get a Spanish immersion program. Lincoln Heights Elementary, Weatherstone Elementary, East Cary Middle, and North Garner Middle will get STEM programs and Forestville Road Elementary will join the Global Schools Collaborative Network.

Also today, the Great Schools in Wake Coalition announced the start of its "Let's Find A Better Way" campaign. GSIW is calling for the development of a new student assignment plan which would essentially take the old node-based plan and address some of the more common complaints.

Some Wake County schools are seeing noticeable changes in their percentages of low-income students because of the student assignment changes adopted by the school board in February.

For instance, Davis Drive Elementary's percentage of students receiving federally subsidized lunches fell from 18.9 percent last year to 6.6 percenet this year. For Reedy Creek Elementary, it rose from 41.4 percent last year to 53.3 percent this year.

This came after the board moved what was projected to be 175 students from Davis Drive to to Reedy Creek, Combs and Smith elementary schools. The moves were supposed to to be proximity related so students would attend a closer school.

So how are the various Wake County elementary and middle schools putting their money for small schools, Global Schools and STEM programs to use?

As noted in this Sunday North Raleigh News article by Chelsea Kellner, the principals at the schools getting the extra resources say they are busy solidifying the programs in each school's culture.

Those getting small schools money now have additional staff and full-time art, music and PE specialists. Previously, they only had enough funding to bring those specialists in three or four days a week.

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata said today that the new student assignment plan is ready for adoption on Oct. 18, and delaying it would only hurt parents and students as they try to implement it for next school year.

Also during today's press conference, Tata repeatedly pointed to how the student assignment task force has spent seven months on developing the new plan. He compared it to how the magnet school program was approved by the board in 1982 only three months after presentation by staff.

On feeder patterns, Tata said he's looking at more adjustments, citing the concerns raised this week by Jeffreys Grove Elementary parents. In response to a question about Brassfield Elementary, he pointed to how parents would have priority if they wanted to go to their closest secondary school. He said he expected to be able to honor those requests in the lottery.

Click here for the online story. I'll go into more detail.

UPDATE

Click here for a handout from today's press conference listing the 12 highlights of the new proposal.

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata announced today the names of eight of the 10 schools that will get special academic programs for the 2011-12 school year to make them more attractive to parents.

Tata said that Hilburn Drive, York and Aversboro elementary schools, Carroll Middle School and Knightdale High School will receive STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs.

Tata announced that Timber Drive, Jeffreys Grove and Stough elementary schools will receive Global Schools programs that will include things such as greater emphasis on teaching foreign languages.

UPDATE

In case I didn't make it clear in my budget post, Tata said today that he has no plans to cut back on the new STEM schools and Global Schools even in the face of deeper than projected state funding cuts.

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata is recommending two vastly differently approaches to deal with under-enrolled schools.

As noted in today's article, one approach had the school board voting Tuesday to set aside $896,000 to provide additional teachers to five small underutilized elementary schools. The article also noted how when it comes to underutilized multi-track year-round schools, Tata wants to pursue the option of letting them switch to a single track.

Let's start with the small elementary schools discussion.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR LINKS TO HANDOUTS

More details to come later but there's been a change in which five under-enrolled Wake County traditional-calendar elementary schools would get additional staffing for the 2011-12 school year.

Wake Superintendent Tony Tata said today that Baileywick Elementary School is on the list because its enrollment has been declining sharply. He said that York Elementary is no longer in the running because new data shows the school's enrollment is projected to increase.

The other schools getting additional teachers are still the same as previously mentioned. They are Aversboro, Hilburn Drive, Jeffreys Grove and Root elementary schools.

The school board will vote today on allocating the $896,000 for the extra positions at those schools. Tata said he wanted the vote now to have the info out before they hold the teacher transfer fair.

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata's budget proposal will dominate much of the discussion at Tuesday's school board meeting.

The agenda for the committee of the whole meeting that starts at 1 p.m. includes a board budget work session. Another COW topic is Tata's proposal to set aside $900,000 to provide additional staffing at "small elementary schools" such as Aversboro, Hilburn Drive, Jeffreys Grove, Root and York who are dealing with enrollment issues.

The public will have its say at 6:15 p.m. during the public hearing on the budget proposal.

There's some good news, bad news and some assumptions being made in the new 2011-12 budget proposed today by Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata.

Starting with the good news, Tata said his focus was to develop a budget that protects teachers and the classroom while setting conditions to make schools in high demand.

In terms of protecting teachers and the classrooms:

The newly adopted Wake County student reassignment plan could help produce some sharp changes this fall in the percentages of students receiving subsidized lunches at some schools.

This handout was presented by staff at Tuesday's school board meeting following a request by school board member Anne McLaurin. During the votes on the individual items, the Democrats often cited the changes in the F&R rates for them voting no.

For instance, the Walnut Creek feeder pattern moves are projected to increase Southeast Raleigh High's F&R rate from 40.2 percent this year to 50.3 percent this fall.